1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to semiconductor devices, methods of fabricating the same and packages using the same. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to semiconductor devices having side pads, methods of fabricating the same and packages using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As electronic products continue to decrease in size and increase in capability, semiconductor packages within the electronic products must be manufactured to have a small size and high performance. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of conventional wafer having a plurality of conventionally-formed chips 10.
Referring to FIG. 1, one of the conventional chips 10 has a plurality of chip pads 40 on an upper surface 20 thereof, which may be an active surface where various electrical components are formed. Through the chip pads 40 signals can be transmitted between electrical components formed within the chip 10 and external devices (not shown).
However, as performance demands, memory capacity, integration and miniaturization of semiconductor packages increase, the density of chip pads 40 inevitably increases. As a result, it becomes more difficult to adequately form the chip pads 40 on the upper surface 20. For example, it becomes difficult to form redistribution patterns over the upper surface 20 in a desirable manner due to the constraint on the available area of the upper surface 20 that can be occupied by the redistribution patterns.
Lastly, the chip 10 is electrically bonded to an underlying circuit substrate (not shown) using either external contact terminals such as bonding wires or solder balls. In the case of using the bonding wires, the chip 10 is arranged such that the chip pads 40 are above the upper surface 20 and the bonding wires are bonded between the chip pads 40 and substrate pads such as bond fingers on the circuit substrate. When using the solder balls, the chip 10 is flipped such that the chip pads 40 are below the upper surface 20 and solder balls are bonded between the chip pads 40 and substrate pads on the circuit substrate.
When wire bonding the chip 10 to the underlying circuit substrate, the bonding wires extend above the chip surface 20. On the other hand, when the chip 10 is bonded to the underlying circuit substrate using solder balls, the solder balls increase a distance between the chip 10 and the circuit substrate. In either case, the thickness of the resultant semiconductor package is substantially greater than the combined thickness of the chip 10 and the underlying circuit substrate. The present invention addresses these and other disadvantages of the conventional art.